Hello, all! Picked this up today and just finished installing the game. Before I begin, any thoughts? Did read some about the game in the 'Review' section, understand there is a problem with a patch for Vista. I have XP, so I assume I don't need the patch? As for difficulty level, I'm looking at starting on 'Detective', as it would seem to be a 'medium' level of difficulty. I'm excited to get started but I wanted to check with my fellow 'Boomers on your thoughts!

Edited by Darlene (01/16/0805:41 PM)

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You become what you think about. Change your thoughts, change your life. - Dko

Darlene,I'm playing Darkness Within right now, also in the Detective mode. I'm really enjoying it, although there are parts of the game that are rather difficult (haven't really gotten the hang of the "combining" and "thinking" part in the inventory), but there are many things you can just go and find and do by yourself, without help. It is one of the better games that I've played recently.Almost forgot: I'm playing on XP and no problems WITHOUT the patch, and I'm pretty far into the game.

Edited by Mary (01/17/0807:43 PM)

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The answer is....chocolate! Who cares what the question is.....

There will be part 2 and part 3 of DARKNESS WITHIN - perhaps some mysteries are solved in the next two part. As i heard, part two will reveal more about Loath Noldor.I belief (but i don' t know for sure)

Click to reveal..

he is not insane, but preferes to belief it, because the reality is so much creepyer. He changed the medicine himself, when he was under the influence of his ancestor and he made and took the compound he later found in his bathroom

I had a lot of fun trying to figure this stuff out. I think it's very possible that -- serious spoilers within --

Click to reveal..

seagul is right, and that Loreid spends the days he can't remember doing things he'd rather forget -- the sequence where he seems to remember dragging a body down a hallway would be one of those.

It's also possible that Loreid's gone completely bonkers, and imagines the entire scenario from the confines of his cell (his apartment hallway does seem very similar to the hallway in the mental institution near his cell).

I prefer to think that Loreid's sane, that he's been under the influence of a drug that he unknowingly inhaled at the Field mansion, and later that he unknowingly ingested in his medication. I think the sequences where you see a bug crawling around are the dreams influenced by the drug (including the dream where you see the bug in the medicine cabinet).

There seem to be two factions in the game, plus some innocent third parties. One faction is Loath Nolder and Edward Braunbell (these seem to be the "good guys"). They've stumbled across some of the bad guys' activities and are traveling and researching to try to figure out what is going on.

The other faction is the crew at the Witch's cottage, including Ivar Bergen, Christopher Dreaden, Gerald (don't know his last name) and Curwen. There are others involved -- represented by the initials in letters at the cabin that don't match the names of the people whose full names we learn. I think we'll learn more about these people in games two and three.

The witch's cabin crew seem to be the "bad guys." They kidnapped or otherwise "eliminated" Braunbell when he was becoming inconvenient. They also were behind the ceremony that called up the spirit of Loreid's ancestor. I'll bet they are the same people sneaking around the cemetary, digging up and burying bodies and wearing rings like that of Loreid's ancestral ring -- the people mentioned by the cemetary caretaker.

The witch's cabin crew refer to Edward Braunbell as "that old fool," and so does Loreid's police friend Arthur. This might indicate that Arthur is one of the bad guys, and since he was a friend of Loreid's he could have gotten into Loreid's apartment, put the letter in his wastebasket and the drugs in his bathroom. Arthur could even have adjusted Loreid's clock to confuse him. This would also explain why Clark Field told his brother not to go to the police.

Clark Field seems like an innocent third party who got involved just because he bought the house. Loreid seems to be involved because he was the policeman put on the case, but also because his ancestor is becoming increasingly influential, breaking into Loreid's mind somehow -- probably through the influence of that drug. When the eclipse happens, if nothing has changed, Loreid's ancestor will fully inhabit Loreid's mind.